Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 416: Life and Death Are Impermanent

Qingyin Pavilion, backyard, Zou Miner's room.

The stinging pain from the scratch on her neck instantly magnified Zou Miner's fear, but it did not make her lose her mind.

She knew in her heart that if she said she had no idea about the secret account, then her life would probably be over.

She just wanted to delay a little longer, although doing so seemed meaningless in the inner courtyard where outsiders were not allowed to enter.

But even if she could only linger on, she didn't want to miss any chance of survival.

She calmed herself down and said, "My father did leave a secret account, but it is not in my hands."

The maid opened her eyes wide when she heard this. She had been reminded before she came that Zou Min'er probably did not have the secret account, otherwise, she had been in Jinling for so long, the city would have been in chaos long ago.

The reason why she searched every corner of the room carefully and questioned him was just a routine measure just in case.

However, he did not expect that Zou Miner actually knew the whereabouts of the secret account. He was surprised and put down the sharp knife that was on Zou Miner's neck.

He asked urgently, "Tell me quickly, where is your father's secret account now?"

Zou Min'er said slowly, "The secret account is in a secret place, but I can't get it."

When the maid saw that Zou Min'er didn't answer the question, she was furious, the veins on her forehead bulged, and she shouted in a low voice: "It has nothing to do with me if you didn't get it. I just want to know where you hid the secret account!"

Zou Miner still asked: "If I tell you, can you really let me go...?"

The maid raised her eyebrows and shouted, "You little bastard, you are so nagging! How dare you tease me!"

The maid raised the sharp blade again...

……

Jia Cong rushed to Qingyin Pavilion, picked up the scimitar that had been placed on the cart, and ran into the lobby.

When he ran to the gate leading to the inner courtyard, two strong women guarding the gate hurried forward to block him.

Jia Cong's mind was gripped by an inexplicable sense of crisis. In a rage, he didn't want to say anything and knocked one of the strong women unconscious with the handle of his knife.

The inner courtyard of Qingyin Pavilion is where Madam Qu Le lives. Usually, there are strong women guarding the door and men are not allowed to enter without permission.

Although Jia Cong often came to Qingyin Pavilion, he naturally could not enter the inner courtyard, and he did not know where Zou Min'er lived in the inner courtyard.

So he took another strong woman into the inner courtyard and asked her to lead the way.

This scene shocked the elegant guests and opera performers in the lobby.

Although the strong woman guarding the gate was quite strong, she was no match for Jia Cong, who had practiced martial arts since childhood.

Moreover, Jia Cong was holding a weapon and had a murderous look on his face. She didn't dare to risk her life, so she followed his instructions and took him to the backyard to find Zou Min'er's residence.

……

In Zou Min'er's room, the maid was distracted by Zou Min'er's words and delayed the conversation for a long time, but she still couldn't get the truth.

She finally lost her patience and put a sharp knife between her chest and abdomen, trying to intimidate her.

I heard hurried footsteps coming from not far outside the house, mixed with anxious questions: "Which room does Madam Zhou from the capital stay in!"

The voice was clear, suppressing anxiety and anger, and although it was not loud, it could be faintly heard as it echoed in the quiet backyard.

Following the instructions of the strong woman, Jia Cong found Zou Miner's room and saw that the door was closed and an old copper hairpin had fallen on the floor at the door.

Jia Cong recognized that it was Zou Min'er's personal belongings. He always saw her wearing it in her hair bun. Unless she encountered an accident, she would never throw it away casually.

When Zou Miner in the room heard the voice, the joy in her heart seemed to explode. She was struggling on the brink of life and death, and she still maintained her last bit of clarity, but at this moment she couldn't help but burst into tears.

She clearly recognized that it was Jia Cong's voice. He actually came back!
When the maid heard the sound coming from outside, her face changed. She listened carefully to the movement outside and tightened her grip on the broken blade in her hand.

Hearing the footsteps approaching the door, she no longer hesitated and stabbed out with the short blade in her hand.

The short blade in her hand was an extremely sharp weapon, which stabbed into Zou Miner's delicate body, seemingly encountering no resistance at all, until the handle was gone.

Zou Miner felt her body being penetrated by a bone-chilling coldness, as if her entire body was frozen in an instant. Bone-gnawing pain spread throughout her body, carrying with it the despair of her life being extinguished.

She didn't even have the strength to scream to relieve the pain in her body.

The intense pain made her blood-stained neck subconsciously tense. She tilted her head back slightly and breathed with difficulty, like a fish out of water, trying to inhale the last bit of air.

Almost at the same time, there was a bang and the door was pushed open violently...

Jia Cong happened to see this scene, his eyes were bloodshot, and he growled while waving his scimitar, chopping towards the maid's head with unparalleled force.

The maid was a person with excellent martial arts skills. Facing Jia Cong's swift and fierce knife attack, she couldn't help but tremble in her heart.

She didn't even have time to pull the short blade from Zou Min'er to use it to resist. Her whole body suddenly tightened and she rolled to the side quickly.

Her movements were as swift as the wind and as fast as lightning, and she barely dodged Jia Cong's sharp knife.

Even so, a piece of her hair was cut off by the blade, and she broke out in a cold sweat.

Jia Cong did not stop even after his sword had exhausted its force. The scimitar in his hand swung left and right, slashing continuously with force like thunder, without any gap.

Since he arrived in Jinling, he has been living in Qu Hongxiu's house most of the time, practicing Qigong and sparring with her every day, and his skills and swordsmanship have improved more than before.

But what he was most concerned about at the moment was Zou Min'er's injury. Although the sword was extremely sharp, the purpose was only to repel the enemy. What worried him was to take care of Zou Min'er's injury as soon as possible.

The maid dodged the first knife attack that was unexpected. Although Zou Miner's room was not big, it gave her enough space to move.

As Jia Cong's scimitar was chopped with great precision and strangeness, she jumped and moved quickly around the room like a frog, carefully avoiding Jia Cong's fierce chops.

Until she reached the window of the room, the maid flew over, broke the pane, and quickly escaped outside.

Although Jia Cong hated her for stabbing Zou Min'er, he had no time to chase him at this time.

……

He ran to Zou Min'er and found a sharp short blade piercing her chest and abdomen, and her dress was soaked with blood.

Jia Cong felt a chill in his heart. He had seen many such penetrating wounds on the battlefield in Liaodong.

With the medicines and medical skills of that era, even for strong soldiers, few could survive the serious injuries caused by such a piercing weapon.

Jia Cong felt indescribable sorrow and despair in his heart.

He carefully lifted Zou Min'er up, trying not to touch her wound, and let her lean on his arms.

At this time, the manager of Qingyin Pavilion had rushed to the door with the guards. Just now, Jia Cong had knocked out the strong woman guarding the door and broke into the inner courtyard, which had already alarmed the entire Qingyin Pavilion.

Originally, the steward led the guards to find Jia Cong and call him to account for his crime.

Qingyin Pavilion has a strong background, so they are not afraid even though Jia Cong is an official.

But when they saw the bloody scene in the room, they were so scared that they stopped and were at a loss for a moment.

At this time, Jiang Liu squeezed into the crowd and was also stunned by the scene before him.

Seeing that Jiang Liu suddenly thought of something, Jia Cong shouted to Jiang Liu, "Go to Fushou Lane and ask Doctor Zhang to come and save her. Human life is at stake. You must hurry. Miss Zou can't hold on for too long."

Then he threw another token to the manager of Qingyin Pavilion and said, "I am Jia Cong, the Supervisor of the Firearms Department. Take my token and go to the Firearms Department of the Ministry of Works to find Liu Shilun.

Ask him to transfer 15 musketeers to Qingyin Pavilion for protection!"

After Jiang Liu and the steward went to do their respective business, Jia Cong asked everyone to leave the room.

Zou Min'er was seriously injured, so there was no point in keeping these people here, so they were just asked to guard outside the door from a distance.

Jia Cong placed all his hopes on Zhang Youpeng. He had witnessed Zhang Youpeng's miraculous medical skills and was just waiting for him to arrive as soon as possible. Perhaps Zou Min'er still had a chance to survive.

Moreover, Fushou Lane is not too far from Qingyin Pavilion, so under normal circumstances, we will be able to get there quickly.

Zou Miner's face had turned as pale as snow. She was seriously injured and on the verge of death. Her body was in a state of overdraft, and the hair on her forehead was soaked with cold sweat from the severe pain.

Every breath she took caused unbearable pain, and her life force seemed to be slipping away bit by bit.

She stared at Jia Cong, as if trying her best to focus her eyes to see him clearly, and asked weakly: "Am I dying?" Jia Cong comforted her: "Don't be afraid, I'm here, you won't die, the doctor will be here soon."

Zou Miner's voice became weaker and weaker: "You don't have to coax me, I know I can't do it.

I finally understand why someone wants to deal with me. That woman wants to find the secret account of the Water Inspectorate left by my father, but I don't have it.

My belt... my belt."

Jia Cong saw Zou Min'er's fingers pointing weakly, and he looked in the direction she was pointing, and saw a jade belt hanging on the edge of the suitcase beside the bed.

Just now, the maid was checking the jade belt. Zou Min'er was worried that she would discover the secret, so she used the compartment of the desk to distract her attention.

When the maid went to check the desk, she casually hung the jade belt on the edge of the suitcase.

This is a tiger-patterned jade leather belt made with twelve pieces of top-grade Hetian white jade. The carving is delicate and the jade color is lustrous and looks like fresh smoke.

Although two years had passed, Jia Cong might have forgotten many details of his time in Jinling, but he could still remember this jade belt clearly, which was really strange.

……

When he and Zou Min'er first met in Ziyun Pavilion, they both took a fancy to this jade belt, but there was only one in the store, so Jia Cong gave the jade belt to her.

At that time, he would enter Ziyun Pavilion to investigate whether the mother and daughter of the Zou family were purchasing birthday gifts in the pavilion, and thereby learn the time of the Zou Mansion's birthday banquet. Finally, he would plan to enter the Zou Mansion and arrest people on the day of the birthday banquet.

From this perspective, his first encounter with Zou Miner was just a cold conspiracy.

Back then, as the counselor of Prince Ning, he assisted in investigating a major case at the Water Supervision Bureau, and he could do so with a clear conscience.

But now, with the passage of time, he is somehow involved with Zou Miner again.

They met in an elegant room, worked on a detective case, went to Suzhou together, and crossed the ship at night. Looking back on the past, can he still have a clear conscience?

He didn't expect that Zou Min'er had been treasured this jade belt all these years.

When the Zou family was confiscated, Zou Min'er was first imprisoned in Yingtian Prefecture, and then traveled thousands of miles to sell herself in the Shenjing Jiaofangsi.

This was such a bumpy and difficult journey, with many investigations and searches. How on earth could she have kept the jade belt with her all this time?
A strange emotion hit Jia Cong's heart.

He had always been on guard because of the complicated entanglement with Zou Min'er.

Even though their relationship has improved as they get along with each other more and get used to each other, this hidden grudge in their hearts cannot be easily eliminated.

It was not until he saw this tiger-patterned jade leather belt that he thought of how Zou Min'er was sometimes close to him, but sometimes resistant and disgusted with him, and seemed moody.

It was not until this moment that Jia Cong understood her complicated thoughts.

He thought this through, and the defenses that were hidden in his heart and hard to dissolve all disappeared in an instant.

……

When Zou Miner saw the jade belt, her originally pale face suddenly became lively, and even showed a strange blush.

Her eyes, which had been somewhat distracted, miraculously focused again, and she seemed to be looking at Jia Cong with her last bit of strength.

She could see the deep sorrow and self-blame in his heart, and at that moment she felt relieved, as if the gloomy and dark sky had finally been torn apart by the haze, letting in a ray of bright sunshine.

However, the bright breath that had just returned quickly withered and faded.

"I hid something in the compartment behind the third jade buckle on the jade belt. It was something my father left behind..."

After Zou Miner said this, she seemed to have used up all her remaining strength, her whole body became limp, and all her senses began to become blurred.

But she could still clearly feel Jia Cong's hands hugging her. His palms were so warm and strong that she felt a sense of belonging and joy she had never felt before.

Gradually, this joy that intoxicated her slowly faded away until she sank into an extremely deep darkness...

……

Jiang Liu was lucky; Zhang Youpeng did not go out or visit any friends and happened to be at home that day.

After listening to Jiang Liu's story, he realized that saving lives was like putting out a fire, so he packed the necessary medical box and rushed over in Jiang Liu's carriage.

Fortunately, Qingyin Pavilion was not far away in Fushou Lane, and they got there at almost the fastest speed.

When Zhang Youpeng entered Zou Miner's room in the inner courtyard, all the outsiders were driven out of the corridor.

Zhang Shiyou asked the manager of Qingyin Pavilion to bring boiling water, lights, strong liquor and other things, and then he and Jia Cong closed the door and tried to rescue them.

Zhang Shilun, the clerk of the Firearms Department, received a message from the manager of Qingyin Pavilion. He did not dare to delay at all and rushed to the scene with 15 musketeers armed with live ammunition.

Jiang Liu had received Jia Cong's instructions long ago, and had more than ten musketeers guard the door and no one was allowed to approach.

The door remained closed and time passed by.

Anyone with a little common sense knows that the longer the first aid for serious injuries is delayed, the lower the probability of the injured person surviving.

Just now, the manager of Qingyin Pavilion rushed into the inner courtyard with the guards, and many people saw the bloody scene in Zou Miner's room.

Qingyin Pavilion is a famous folk art music pavilion in Jinling City. It has always been a place where high-ranking officials, dignitaries and literati in Jinling City linger.

The news of the assassination in the inner courtyard of Qingyin Pavilion quickly spread in Jinling City through various channels.

The matter involved Jia Cong, the director of the Firearms Department of the Ministry of Works and the Earl of Weiyuan, and touched the nerves of more people in the city.

Zou Miner's room had been closed for a long time, and it was like a world of life and death inside and outside the room.

No one knew the emergency situation inside. More than a dozen firearms soldiers, holding Rumi guns, formed a human wall and faithfully guarded the door.

At the entrance of the inner courtyard of Qingyin Pavilion, voices began to rise.

After the news spread, Jia Yucun, the prefect of Yingtian, personally led the coroner and bailiffs to Qingyin Pavilion.

He got his current official position with the support of the Rongguo Jia family. Since Jia Cong was involved in the assassination, of course he had to show up.

Liu Yong, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, also received the news. He and Jia Cong had always been friends, and he also rushed over with more than a dozen Embroidered Uniform Guard captains.

Even the Jinling City Patrol sent people to investigate.

However, when these people approached Zou Miner's room, the dozen or so musketeers blocked them outside the door.

……

Captain Liu Yong has been in the Jinling Guard for many years and has some vision and experience.

These dozen or so musketeers guarding the gate have sturdy builds, stern demeanors, and bloody manners. They are not ordinary soldiers but brave soldiers who have been on the battlefield and seen human lives taken.

Liu Yong could also recognize that the Rummi guns in their hands were very different from the common Ottoman Rummi guns. They were probably the improved new models developed by the Firearms Bureau.

Liu Yong knew that Jia Cong had once led firearms soldiers to defeat the Jurchens in Liaodong. These dozen firearms soldiers must be the brave men he brought back from Liaodong.

With only a dozen new Rumi guns, even if the Jinyiwei had twice as many people, they would definitely not be able to get close to this room.

Besides, he and Jia Cong were friends, so naturally he wouldn't do anything stupid like forcing his way in.

The prefect of Yingtian, Jia Yucun, personally brought people here, not only to show his diligence in his official duties, but also to show the proper attitude of the Jia family in the capital.

Today, Jia Cong is no longer the minor official of the seventh rank he was two years ago, but the hereditary Earl of Weiyuan, and the obvious leader of the future Jia family in the capital.

As a disciple of the Jia family, Jia Yucun naturally did not dare to neglect the murder case involving Jia Cong.

A group of people, each with their own thoughts, were waiting in front of the door.

More than half an hour passed before the tightly closed door opened. Everyone saw Jia Cong coming out with a pale face. Everyone could see the sadness and anger on his face.

An old man came out with Jia Cong. He had a gentle face and fair skin. He looked tired at this moment, and his robe was stained with large patches of blood.

Liu Yong hurried forward and asked, "Master Jia, I heard that Madam Zhou in the pavilion was assassinated. I wonder how her condition is now?"

Jia Cong's face was filled with sorrow, which was very touching. He said in a heavy tone, "Madam Zhou was seriously injured. Although she was treated by Doctor Zhang, she still died!"

(End of this chapter)